1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to animal harnesses that are used to restrain animals, such as those used for domestic pets in conjunction with a leash. More particularly, this invention relates to a girth tightening harness which, when a strain is brought upon the leash due to pulling by the animal, tightens around the animal, behind its chest cavity, causing the animal to cease the pulling behavior in order to relieve the tightness.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For many years, it has been known to use harnesses on domestic pets, such as cats or dogs, for the purpose of restraining or controlling the animal. Such harnesses include simple neck collars, and also more elaborate body harnesses which are typically fitted around the animal""s chest as well as around the neck.
More recently, it has been known to use harnesses and collars which function in response to undesirable behavior by the animal so as to discourage such behavior. For example, one such undesirable behavior is that of pulling or tugging by the animal when the animal is restrained on a leash. Many dog owners, for example, find such behavior to be particularly problematic when walking dogs, especially of larger breeds. Attempts to discourage such behavior have included simple choke collars, which tighten around the animal""s neck when the animal strains against the leash. However, choke collars tend to cause damage to the dog""s trachea and can therefore be quite dangerous to the dog.
Conventional collars, i.e., collars that are fitted around the animal""s neck, have a deficiency in that many animals are able to slip their head through the collar whereby they are no longer restrained.
In order to overcome the problems associated with collars, various harnesses have been developed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,515 to Brown et al. discloses a harness that fits over an animal""s head, and buckles around its chest behind the front legs. The harness is designed such that, as the animal tries to walk faster or pull faster than the person walking the animal walks, the straps around the dog""s legs pull back perpendicular to the dog""s legs preventing the animal from walking faster than the person walking the dog. The harness is designed to restrict the movement of the dogs front legs by the force of the dogs own pulling power. The more the dog tries to pull, the less movement the dog has in his front legs. This harness, although effective at restraining the animal, does not work to inhibit the undesirable behavior and instead merely frustrates the animal.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,893,339 to Liu discloses a harness having a collar which is mounted on a dog""s neck and a loop passing around the dog""s body. This harness, because it includes a collar portion, can damage the dog""s neck as discussed above.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,682,840 to McFarland discloses an animal harness that includes a pair of equal length cords adapted to form loops that are disposed within the foreleg pits of the animal. This harness can optionally include a collar. The harness reacts to the animal straining against a person holding a leash attached to the harness, which results in pressure being applied to the foreleg pits of the animal. The resulting pain causes the animal to cease the tugging behavior. However, overuse of pressure to the foreleg pits of the animal can damage the animal""s muscles and tendons in that part of its body.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,713,308 to Holt discloses a collarless animal harness that overcomes some of the problems discussed above. This harness restrains the animal by cinching around the animal""s chest, causing the animal to cease the straining behavior to relieve the cinching discomfort. Although the animal will cease the straining behavior in order to relieve the tightness around its chest, the animal""s instincts will cause him to display the behavior again.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,911,200 discloses a harness with a single back closure and a chest strap that travels around the chest of an animal and attaches at each end to midriff straps. This harness does little to discourage undesirable behavior from the animal.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,934,224 to Spom discloses a leash-controllable, collarless dog harness adapted to inhibit a dog from straining against the leash. When the dog strains to pull on the harness, branches of the harness ride up the foreleg crotches of the dog to engage and press against the sensitive foreleg pits. The dog, in order to relieve this pressure, is induced to slow down or come to a halt. As mentioned above, overuse of pressure to the foreleg pits of the animal can damage the animal""s muscles and tendons.
There remains a need to provide a leash controlled, collarless animal harness that can be used to control the behavior of an animal without causing undue pain and/or injury to the animal.
The present invention is directed to a collarless animal harness, used in conjunction with a leash, for restraining an animal by effectively discouraging pulling or tugging by the animal against the leash. The animal harness of the present invention is adjustable and easily fitted on the animal as well as being inexpensive to manufacture using known manufacturing techniques.
In general, an animal harness is adapted to fit on the body of an animal and can be connected to a leash for restraining the animal. Means for cinching the harness around the animal""s body when the animal strains against the leash is also provided, such that the cinching of the harness stimulates the animal to submissively cease straining against the leash.
More specifically, the animal harness of the present invention is formed from a length of rope with an approximate midpoint from which a first rope segment and a second rope segment extend. A leash loop is formed at the approximate midpoint of the rope and is closed with a first rope locking means. The first rope segment and the second rope segment are joined together by the first rope locking means to form a top connecting line which terminates at a second rope locking means. A shoulder loop is defined by the second rope locking means, a portion of the first rope segment, a portion of the second rope segment and a third rope locking means. The first rope segment and the second rope segment are joined together by the third rope locking means to form a bottom connecting line which terminates at a fourth rope locking means. A girth loop, designed to encompass a portion of an animals body just behind the animal""s chest, is defined by the fourth rope locking means, a portion of the first rope segment, a portion of the second rope segment and a ring. A portion of the first rope segment passes through the ring and is attached to the portion of the first rope segment in the girth loop using a first adjustment means to form a first rope segment adjustment loop. A portion of the second rope segment passes through the ring and is attached to the portion of the second rope segment in the girth loop using a second adjustment means to form a second rope segment adjustment loop. A portion of the first rope segment extends from the first adjustment means and is terminated by a first rope stop. A portion of the second rope segment extends from the second adjustment means and is terminated by a second rope stop.
The present invention is also directed to a method of restraining an animal. The method for restraining an animal includes placing the above-described animal harness on the animal such that the girth loop encompasses the animal""s torso, just behind the chest of the animal. The animal""s head is placed through the shoulder loop and the leash loop and a portion of the top connecting line are passed through the ring. A leash is attached to the leash loop. When the leash is pulled, the girth loop tightens around the abdomen of the animal which produces an instinctive submissive response and the animal ceases to pull against the leash.